At the southwest corner of the Virginia Range with Jeff Martinez. Check out the darting injury at 2:09. The advocates are trying to convince the bureaucrats and ranchers that they can be as ruthless as the helicopter pilots and wranglers.
Category: Range
On the range
BLM Preparing to Rescind Public Lands Rule
Stakeholders said it created regulatory uncertainty, reduced access to public lands and undermined the multiple-use mandate established by Congress according to the news release.
A 60-day comment period began with publication of a notice in the Federal Register.
Wild horses fall under “historical values” in the definition of multiple use in FLPMA.
RELATED: Public Lands Rule Published.
Foal-Free Friday, Searching for Integrity Edition
When will the advocates explain how mass sterilization, the inevitable result of humane population reduction, stops competition from livestock, fixes unfair resource allocations and restores lost habitat?
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Waiting for Godot Edition.

TRNP Filly Euthanized for WNV
The incident occurred on August 31 according to the September 18 update at the horse management page.
AZDA Should Give Salt River Advocates the Boot
The inevitable result of humane population reduction is mass sterilization.

Tell AZDA they should have removed the Salt River Wild Horse Darting Group from the case five years ago because they’re sterilizing the mares.
If Wild Horses Had Principal Use of Cottonwood
The allotment was recognized for a virtual fencing project in this year’s rangeland stewardship award.
The Allotment Master Report puts it in the Maintain category.
The permittee receives 2,144 active AUMs on 16,689 public acres, equivalent to 179 wild horses, or 10.7 wild horses per thousand public acres, roughly the same stocking rate as the Virginia Range.
Your faithful public servants claim that public lands in the western U.S. can only support one wild horse per thousand acres (25,500 animals on 25.6 million acres).
The advocates, defeated a long time ago, give their assent through their darting programs.
If the allotment was an HMA, the AML would be 17 and 162 wild horses would be consigned to off-range holding because of permitted grazing.
BLM allotments in the Nevada support livestock equivalent to 173,144 wild horses on 40,194,360 public acres, or 4.3 wild horses per thousand public acres.
Wild horses can be placed on public lands not identified for their use by acquiring base properties associated with grazing allotments and flipping the preference to horses.
RELATED: The Allotments Tell the Story: They’re Lying, All of Them.

2025 Stewardship Award Goes to Nevada Guest Ranch?
A representative of the BLM will present the award today to Cottonwood Ranch at the 57th annual meeting of the Public Lands Council, according to the announcement.
The owners have preference on the Cottonwood Allotment, managed by the Wells Field Office, and the Cottonwood Creek and Goat Creek Allotments, managed by the Jarbidge Ranger District.
The award pertains to virtual fencing on the BLM allotment. Use of the technology on Forest Service lands was not disclosed.
The aim of the grazing program is to ensure that high net worth individuals receive generous government benefits, often at the expense of America’s wild horses, with no means testing and no expiration date.
RELATED: Winners of 2024 Stewardship Awards Announced.

BLM Announces McGregor Grazing Auction
The job walk will occur on September 19, followed by in-person bidding on September 26, according to the news release.
In the past, auction results showed that the American people were not receiving a fair price for livestock grazing covered by term permits.
NDA Website Back in Service
A Board of Agriculture meeting was set for September 9 but no reports have been posted to the documentation page.
RELATED: Can’t Access NDA Website?
Mustang Monday
On the Virginia Range with Western Horse Watchers.
Clifford Spring Exclosure Won’t Isolate Stone Cabin Horses
The aim of the project is to improve riparian habitat while continuing to provide water to free-roaming horses, wildlife and livestock.
Map 1 in the preliminary decision gives you the location but doesn’t tell you the HMA.
The last page gives the legal description as T. 3 N., R. 49 E., sec. 11, SW1/4SE1/4.
That means the southwest quarter of the southeast quadrant of Section 11 in Township 3 North, Range 49 East (Mount Diablo base and meridian). Probably a 40-acre parcel.
The PLSS layer in the ArcGIS viewer puts the spring in the Stone Cabin HMA, which lies mostly within the Stone Cabin Allotment.
The Proposed Action, discussed in the CX, would install 730 feet of metal fence around the spring, two gates, up to 360 feet of buried water lines, one in-ground tank equipped with a thermoriser and one tire trough located outside the exclosure.
Comments will be accepted through September 19.

Another Moreno Valley Burro Hit by Arrow
She was captured and taken to an equine hospital where most of the projectile was removed but another surgery is needed to retrieve the head according to a report by KTLA News.
A local sanctuary has offered a reward of $14,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible.
Curiously, there would be no charges if the advocates were hitting the jennies with pesticide-laced darts.
RELATED: Archer Hits Two Wild Burros, Location Not Disclosed.
Eighth Annual Devil’s Garden Roundup, Day 15
The incident started on August 27.
Figures for Day 12 indicate three stallions captured plus one mare but the total is 11.
The documented capture total through September 10 is 111, including 46 stallions, 54 mares and 11 foals.
Youngsters represented 9.9% of the sample.
Of the adults, 46% were male and 54% were female.
The average daily take is 7.4.
The death rate is 3.6%.
Body condition scores were not given.
The number of horses shipped is not known.
The operation supports three tenets of rangeland management.
Too Many Horses and Not Enough Land at Salt River?
So says one of the challengers vying for the management contract.
If that’s true then why not move them to one or more vacant allotments to the north?
Their current habitat is in the Goldfield Allotment and previously extended into the Sunflower Allotment.
RELATED: McDowell Commissioners to Hear Plan for Salt River Horses.

Foal-Free Friday, Waiting for Godot Edition
When will the advocates explain how mass sterilization, the inevitable result of humane population reduction, preserves wild horses for future generations?

When will they stop lying about the reversibility of PZP?
RELATED: Foal-Free Friday, Casting Your Pearls to the Swine Edition.

Currituck Herd Adds New Filly
She’s the ninth foal this year according to a report by WCTI News.
The status of the darting program is unknown.
Black is dominant, red is recessive.
You can have heterozygous black but not heterozygous red.
If that’s her mom, maybe she’s a liver chestnut.

Mustang Monday
On the Mogollon Rim with TDWM Outdoors. Association with Heber WHT unknown.
Heber Objection Period Begins
The Forest Service copied the following documents to the project folder on August 29:
- Final environmental assessment
- Final territory management plan
- Draft decision notice
Scroll down to the Project Summary, expand the Project Documents section and click on the AdminReview folder.
Only those who participated in the planning process are eligible to object.
The DN would authorize Alternative 2, the Proposed Action, discussed on page 18 of the EA (page 24 in the pdf) and beyond.
Horses currently occupy an area much larger than the 19,700-acre WHT so initial management actions will be directed at achieving AML within the designated space.
Active AUMs and acreages of surrounding allotments should be reviewed to determine if the proposed AML (104) and stocking rate (5.3 wild horses per thousand acres) are reasonable.
Surgical sterilization was dropped from the analysis.
Chemical sterilization, via PZP and GonaCon, is on the table.
Expanding the territory, increasing the AML and reducing livestock grazing didn’t make the cut.
The WHT lies within the Heber and Black Canyon Allotments. Figure 6 in the EA shows the overlapping pastures.
RELATED: Status of Heber Wild Horse Management Plan?

Eighth Annual Devil’s Garden Roundup, Day 10
The incident started on August 27.
The Forest Service has added deaths to the daily reports.
Shipping data are not provided.
Deceased animals are not included in the daily breakdowns. For example, two horses were put down for unspecified conditions on September 3 but you don’t know if they were stallions, mares or foals.

The daily totals should match the daily breakdowns.
The documented capture total is 68, including 28 stallions, 34 mares and six foals.
Youngsters represented 8.8% of the sample.
Of the adults, 45.2% were male and 54.8% were female.
The average daily take is 6.8.
The death rate, based on a capture total of 72, is 6.9%.
The operation supports three tenets of rangeland management.
RELATED: Eighth Annual Devil’s Garden Roundup Off to an Early Start.
BLM Issues Blue Wing Final Planning Documents
The Decision Record authorizes Alternative A, the Proposed Action, discussed in Section 2.4 of the Environmental Assessment.
It is the only option calling for a nonreproducing segment in the population, to be achieved by “minimally invasive sterilization” of mares and stallions.
Other features of the plan include:
- Forcible removal of excess animals to low AML
- Application of fertility control pesticides
- Alteration of sex ratios to favor males
- Development of a new a new water source
- Monitoring of genetic diversity
Commenting in support of the plan was Return to Normal (Before WHB Act). Refer to item 2 in Appendix XVII of the EA.
The project is subject to a 30-day appeal period but that was not mentioned in the news release.
RELATED: Blue Wing Preliminary Planning Documents Out for Review.
